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DECISION No

DECISION No.531-TTg OF AUGUST 8, 1996 OF THE PRIME MINISTER ON THE MANAGEMENT OF THE NATIONAL PROGRAMS

THE PRIME MINISTER

Pursuant to the Law on Organization of the Government of September 30, 1992;

In order to enhance the management of the National Programs;

At the proposal of the Minister of Planning and Investment,

DECIDES:

I. GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1.- A National Program is an assortment of synchronous objectives, tasks and solutions regarding economic, social, scientific, technological and environmental issues, mechanisms, policies and organization in order to achieve one or several objectives laid down in the overall strategy for national socio-economic development in a given period.

A National Program consists of various projects to achieve the program�s objectives. The objects of management and planning shall be determined according to the program and investment and materialized according to the project.

Article 2.- A project of the National Program is an assortment of activities to perform a particular task in order to achieve one or several specific objectives which are clearly defined in the program with a defined budget within a time limit.

Article 3.- Criteria for selecting a National Program:

- The issues chosen to be addressed through a National Program must be urgent, inter-sectoral, inter-regional and important for the national socio-economic development and should be tackled under concentrated guidance;

- The objectives of a National Program must be clear, measurable and lie within the overall national strategy;

- The period for implementing a program must be specified, usually 5 years, or phased into separate five-year terms.

II. FORMULATION OF A NATIONAL PROGRAM:

Article 4.- Basing themselves on the contents and tasks of medium or long term plans, the Ministries, National Committees and General Departments (hereafter referred to as Ministries) shall propose to the Ministry of Planning and Investment urgent socio-economic issues to be included in a list of the National Programs. The Ministry of Planning and Investment shall coordinate with the Ministry of Finance in selecting and drawing up a list of National Programs and recommending the managing agencies to the Government which shall consider and submit it to the National Assembly for decision in each period of the plan.

Article 5.- The agencies assigned to manage the National Programs shall have to coordinate with the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the Ministry of Finance and other relevant Ministries, branches and localities in organizing the formulation of programs. The programs and projects shall be formulated during the elaboration of short-, medium or long-term plans. When an annual plan is elaborated new programs can be proposed or the number of the existing programs can be reduced.

Article 6.- The contents of a National Program include:

- Assessment of the actual situation of the field to be covered by the Program, the rationale for urgent issues to be addressed by a National Program;

- Identification of the scope, size and general objectives of the program, the basic targets to be attained within each specific period of time;

- Identification of the total funding for the program, the annual allocations and the methods of mobilizing fund from various sources;

- Identification of the overall socio-economic effect of the program and the investment projects;

- Recommendations on the possible integration with other programs;

- Schedule and tempo of implementation of the program and projects;

- International cooperation (if any).

Article 7.- The Ministry of Planning and Investment shall assume the main responsibility and coordinate with the Ministry of Finance and other relevant Ministries, branches and localities in appraising the National Programs before submitting them to the Prime Minister for approval.

Only the approved programs shall be incorporated into the plan.

Article 8.- The activities of the National Programs shall be integrated on the following principles:

- To avoid overlapping and raise the efficiency of the utilization of resources, the integration of the parts of various National Programs which have interrelated objectives, activities and implementation organization should be taken into account right from the moment the plan is proposed, elaborated and arranged, and shall be monitored until its implementation and evaluation;

- The program managing agency(ies) shall propose the content, form and mechanism of integrating the program into other National Programs;

- During the process of considering, appraising and funding, the Ministry of Planning and Investment and the Ministry of Finance shall propose the integration plan together with the fund allocations to the integrated activities and submit the plan to the Prime Minister who shall consider and assign the tasks of each in the annual plan to the Ministries managing the programs;

- The Presidents of the People�s Committees of the provinces and the cities directly under the Central Government shall take part in the management, implementation organization and integration of the interrelated activities of the National Programs in their localities.

Article 9.- If the conditions for funding the program�s objectives change when the annual plans or five-year plans are elaborated, the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the Ministry of Finance and the program managing agency(ies) must submit the following contents to the Government for adjustment of the program:

- Evaluation of the part of the program already implemented;

- Rationale for the necessity and reasons for the adjustment;

- Contents of adjustment;

- Effects of such adjustments on the ultimate objectives of the program and the effectiveness of the adjustment.

Article 10.- The agencies managing the National Programs and the People�s Committees of the provinces and the cities directly under the Central Government where National Programs are implemented must regularly report (quarterly and yearly) on the implementation of the objectives, the funding, etc., according to the prescribed forms. The agencies managing the programs must coordinate with the concerned Ministries, branches and localities in conducting mid-term review of the five year programs or five-year implementation phases. These reports shall be sent to the Prime Minister and concurrently to the Ministry of Planning and Investment and the Ministry of Finance.

The Ministry managing the programs shall have to assume the main responsibility and coordinate with the concerned Ministries, branches and localities in evaluating and appraising the results of the implementation of the National Program(s), making wrap-up reports and submitting them to the Prime Minister for approval.

III. FINANCIAL MECHANISM FOR THE NATIONAL PROGRAMS:

Article 11.- Annually, on the basis of the assignment of the planned tasks and the objectives of the National Programs, the Ministry of Finance shall assume the main responsibility together with the Ministry of Planning and Investment in proposing the budget allocation for each National Program in the overall draft State budget plan to the Government for consideration and submit it to the National Assembly for decision.

Article 12.- Basing itself on the budget allocation approved for each program, the program managing agency shall project its allocations to different Ministries and localities, which shall be incorporated by the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Planning and Investment into the plan of each of these Ministries, branches and localities before submitting them to the Prime Minister for consideration and decision.

Article 13.- The fund for implementing a National Program shall derive from the Central budget and be granted directly by the Ministry of Finance to the Ministries and branches for carrying out the centrally managed projects, or by the provincial/municipal Finance and Pricing Service under the mandate of the Ministry of Finance for carrying out the locally managed projects of the Program. The management and payment of the expenditures of the National Programs shall be performed under current provisions.

Article 14.- To fulfill the objectives of a program, in addition to the capital deriving from the State budget, credit capital should be mobilized from inside and outside the country, and from contributions by different organizations and individuals. With regard to the capital mobilized from the people, the program managing agencies and the People�s Committees of the provinces and the cities directly under the Central Government where the programs are implemented may use such capital for the activities within the framework of the program, but shall have to manage and settle the accounts in accordance with current provisions.

IV. MANAGING AND DIRECTING THE NATIONAL PROGRAMS.

Article 15.- Tasks of the Ministry of Planning and Investment:

- To assume the main responsibility and coordinate with the Ministry of Finance in assisting the Prime Minister in appraising, integrating, managing, directing, supervising and evaluating the National Programs;

- Basing itself on the State�s orientations for the long-term and five year socio-economic development and the proposals of the Ministries, branches and localities, to assume the main responsibility and coordinate with the Ministry of Finance in selecting and drawing up a list of National Programs and of program managing agencies for the Government to consider and present it to the National Assembly for decision;

- Together with the Ministry of Finance to propose the budget allocation for each National Program and integrate all these allocations into the common budget the State in order to submit them to the Government.

Article 16.- Tasks of the Ministry of Finance:

- To assume the main responsibility and coordinate with the Ministry of Planning and Investment in planning the budget allocation to each National Program, integrating all these allocations into the State�s overall budget plan and submit them to the Government which shall present it to the National Assembly for decision.

- To allocate fund to each program and project approved in the plan; to guide and supervise the agencies managing the National Program in the observance of current financial and accounting regulations. To make a general report on the annual funding for each program and approve the payment of expenditures for the National Programs and the projects upon their completion, report it to the Prime Minister and concurrently send it to the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

Article 17.- Tasks of the agencies managing the National Programs:

- The agencies managing the National Programs shall have to assume the main responsibility and coordinate with the concerned Ministries and localities in organizing and formulating the programs and projects under the assignment of the Government, and send them to the Ministry of Planning and Investment and the Ministry of Finance for appraisal before submitting them to the Prime Minister for approval;

- To set up the Managing Committee of the National Programs to assist the Head of the agency in managing and implementing the program and dissolve it upon the termination of the program. The Program manager shall be a leading official of the Ministry, the committee shall include competent representatives of such departments as planning, finance and other relevant spheres. The Regulation on the operation of the Managing Committee of the National Program shall be decided by the program managing agency on the basis of the provisions in this Decision;

- With regard to the National Programs of special importance which require the participation of officials of various Ministries and local officials in their Managing Committees, the membership of the Managing Committees and their operational regulation shall be decided by the Prime Minister;

- To take responsibility for the management and allocation of the fund and the organization of the accounting work so as to manage the program�s funding sources in accordance with the State regime on financial management;

- To take responsibility for the settlement of the expenditures of the program with the Ministry of Finance and submit to the auditing by a State audit agency in accordance with current provisions.

Article 18.- The People�s Committees of the provinces and the cities directly under the central Government shall have:

- To take part in the formulation and management of the National Programs in their localities;

- To request for change(s) in the objective(s) of a project of the program in their localities when finding out that such objectives are unrealistic and not suited to the actual situation of the locality;

- To create every favorable condition for the fruitful implementation of the program(s), organizing the integration and conducting the program�s activities in the locality;

- To set up the Steering Committee for the National Programs in the locality to assist the People�s Committee of the province or the city directly under the Central Government in planning, implementing and directing the National Program in the locality. The Head of the Steering Committee shall be a leading official of the People�s Committee of the province or the city directly under the Central Government; and its members shall include competent representatives of the provincial/municipal Planning and Investment Service, Finance and Pricing Service and other specialized services with the Planning and Investment Service as the standing coordinator.

V. IMPLEMENTATION PROVISIONS

Article 19.- This decision takes effect from September 1st, 1996.

- The Ministry of Planning and Investment shall coordinate with the Ministry of Finance and other concerned Ministries in guiding the implementation of this Decision.

- The ongoing National Programs which have not yet satisfied the criteria and completed the procedures prescribed in this Decision shall be submitted to the Prime Minister for approval.

Article 20.- The Ministers, the Heads of the ministerial-level agencies and the agencies attached to the Government, the Presidents of the People�s Committees of the provinces and the cities directly under the Central Government shall have to implement this Decision.

For the Prime Minister

Deputy Prime Minister

NGUYEN KHANH